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scrod n, also attrib

Also scrode, schrod(e)[Perh orig ppl adj < Cornish dial scraw, scroe; cf EDD scraw v.2 “Fish are scrawed when they are prepared in a particular way for cooking. This scrawing consists in cutting them flatly open and then slightly powdering them with salt and sometimes with pepper. They are then exposed to the sun and air, that as much as possible of the moisture may be dried up. In this state they are roasted over a clear burning coal or wood fire. Thus prepared and smeared over with a little butter they are said to be ‘scrawed’.” For another possible Cornish dial. borrowing in this context, cf gange 1.]esp eastern Massachusetts, Maine
Cf DNE

A small cod or similar fish (as haddock, hake, or pollock) esp as prepared for food, traditionally by being split, lightly salted, and broiled.

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contains DARE survey quotes
  • 1841 Spirit of Times 11.396, Supplied with a few ship biscuit, a dried scrod, a bottle of good swizzle [etc].
  • 1846 Worcester Universal Dict. , Schrode. . . A young or small cod fish, split and salted for cooking:—written also scrode.
  • 1856 Reynolds Peter Gott 92 neMA, He had a pile of nice scrods.
  • 1884 Goode Fisheries U.S. 1.201, In the vicinity of Cape Ann the young Cod, too small to swallow a bait, are sometimes known to the fishermen as “Pickers,” and throughout all Eastern Massachusetts the name “Scrod,” or “Scrode,” is in common use. In its primary meaning it seems to refer to these small fish slightly corned, in which condition they are a favorite article of food, but the name is also transferred to the young fish themselves.
  • 1896 Farmer Boston Cook Book 148, Broiled Scrod. A young cod, split down the back, and backbone removed, except a small portion near the tail, is called a scrod. Scrod are always broiled, spread with butter, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Haddock is also so dressed.
  • 1930 AmSp 5.392 [Language of N Atl fishermen], Schrod. . . Haddock which are too small to be filleted.
  • 1939 Wolcott Yankee Cook Book 43, In the fish industry, scrod has come to mean haddock under 2½ pounds. The correct definition of scrod is a small fish prepared for planking.
  • 1951 Boston Herald (MA) 19 Dec, Scrod . . refers to the cut of a fish and not to any specific fish itself. In fish pier parlance, it refers, also, to the weight of a fish. . . Any fish weighing two and a half pounds or under, is a scrod fish. The two most common scrod fish in the Boston market are haddock scrod and cod scrod, and it is haddock scrod that supports the Boston fishermen. Whether haddock or cod, scrod is that part of the fish between the body cavity and the tail filleted or split into two equal sections.
  • 1962 Morison One Boy’s Boston 32 (as of 1890s), My grandfather stoutly maintained that a scrod was, or should be, a small codfish that had been split and slack-salted the night before.
  • 1967 DARE
    Qu. P14, . . Commercial fishing . . what do the fishermen go out after?
    Inf MA50, Scrod.
  • 1975 Gould ME Lingo 245, Until its late and lamentable disappearance in Bangor’s renewal program, the Penobscot Exchange Hotel always meticulously stated on its restaurant menu just which fish was being offered each day as scrod.
  • 1993 FDA Consumer Sept 14, Scrod is not a type of fish. The term originated in the Boston area to describe the catch of the day. It is a fish under two and a half pounds that is either cod, haddock or pollock. Such fish should be labeled in the market or listed in a restaurant as “scrod cod,” “scrod haddock,” or “scrod pollock.”
  • 1999 DARE File—Internet eMA [Boston Online Wicked Good Guide to Boston English], Scrod—A small, ambiguous piece of fish that never knows if it’s cod or haddock. Some people claim that “scrod” is a young cod, while “schrod” is a young haddock, but, in fact, there’s no difference—it’s basically whatever’s cheaper at the fish pier that day.
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